Crochet: Offset Shell Stitch

By Lisa Gutierrez on 10/18/2011

My oldest son’s great grandmother crocheted a blanket for him while I was pregnant. The entire thing is just one stitch and the border is a simple 5 rows of single crochet. It’s gloriously simple and oh so beautiful. When I finally learned to crochet, I knew I’d want to make a blanket just like it. I didn’t have the pattern and great Grandma said she crocheted it from memory–it was her go to stitch pattern and she would make several a year for any new babies who entered her life.

I STILL wanted to make it, though. So, I just sat with it for a few minutes and counted and came up with the stitch pattern. I crocheted a giant baby blanket for my cousin’s first born back in 2007 using it (you can see it stuffed in a basket of handmade baby goodies, here), but for some reason or another, I didn’t write up the pattern to share.

Yesterday, I got an email asking about it (you can see it in the background of my one-hour neckwarmer pattern) and so I decided to pull out the baby blanket and write up a proper stitch pattern. If you’re familiar with a more traditional name for it, please do let me know. It’s like a shell stitch pattern, but it’s not quite the same, hence the “offset.” Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Ch any multiple of 4
Row 1: [2 DC, ch 1, DC] in 4th Ch from hook, *skip 3 Ch, [3 DC, ch 1, DC] in next Ch; Rep from * across chain. Ch 3, turn.
Row 2: [2 DC, ch 1, DC] in the first ch-1 space, [3 DC, ch 1, DC] in all ch-1 spaces, except the last. 3 DC in last ch-1 space, Ch 1, DC into top of beginning ch-3 of previous row. Ch 3, turn.
Repeat Row 2 until scarf if as long as you would like it to be.

Using some worsted (aran) weight yarn and a 5.5mm hook, make a scarf or neckwarmer by chaining 28 or 32. Make a baby blanket by chaining something substantially larger, like 160. It’s surprisingly fast, once you get going.

Like I said above, if you know what this stitch is called or have any other reference for it, let me know!

my aunt just made little miss a blanket super similar! i didn’t have time to go over and learn the stitch on our last visit and have been wanting to make a big one for my bed…. i’m SO HAPPY to have seen it here! thanks so much, i’ve read through your whole progress and it looks great! i think it’ll be my gift to myself and i’ll crochet it during our christmas road trip. love.

I printed this pattern in October 2012 to make a very special blanket… while keeping an eye out for the ‘stitch’. This past week, I bought 3 crochet books and found the ‘stitch’ in one of them. It is named MARIELLE. Multiple of 4 sts but instead of using DC, the pattern is using trebles, and ch 2 (instead of ch 1), then dc for the foundation row. Row 1 goes Ch 3, *(2tr, ch 2, 1 dc) in the nxt ch-2 sp, rep from * across, 1 tr in top of turning ch, turn. Repeat row 1 for pattern. It makes a very airy lacy (see-through) fabric. I prefer your pattern for a blanket. Thank you for sharing your pattern with us.

In Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Crochet, at page 146, the stitch is named ”Asymmetrical Shell”, with chain a multiple of 7 stitches + 1. Part of the pattern reads like this : 4 dcs, ch 2, dc. It is the exact same stitch, except that there are 4 dcs instead of 3.

The Red Heart Yarns pattern that I saw on the web is using the ”Asymmetrical Shell”, i.e. : 4 dcs, ch 1 or ch 2, dc.

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